Reporter from Associated Press not allowed in Oval Office due to AP’s “Gulf of America” style policy

The White House refused access to an Associated Press journalist from an event in the Oval Office on Tuesday. The reason given was the demand for the news agency to change its terminology from Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America, as per President Trump’s request.

During the usual White House event on Tuesday afternoon, the reporter was denied entry, according to AP executives. This move by Trump’s administration, threatening a ban unless the AP adhered to the Gulf name change, may raise concerns about freedom of speech protected by the Constitution.

Julie Pace, senior vice president and executive editor of The Associated Press, called the administration’s move unacceptable.

Expressing discontent, Pace mentioned in a statement the troubling nature of the administration’s action against AP’s independence in reporting. This restriction on Oval Office access based on the agency’s speech not only hinders public access to impartial news but also violates the First Amendment.

The Trump administration made no immediate announcements about the move, and there was no indication any other journalists were affected. Trump has long had an adversarial relationship with the media. On Friday, the administration ejected a second group of news organizations from Pentagon office space.

AP style is not only used by the agency. The AP Stylebook is relied on by thousands of journalists and other writers globally.

Demands by a president that a news organization comply with an order to change its content would seem to run counter to the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which bars the government from impeding the freedom of the press.

Before his Jan. 20 inauguration, Trump announced plans to change the Gulf of Mexico’s name to the “Gulf of America” — and signed an executive order to do so as soon as he was in office. Mexico’s president responded sarcastically and others noted that the name change would probably not affect global usage.

This week, Google Maps began using “Gulf of America,” saying it had a “longstanding practice” of following the U.S. government’s lead on such matters. The other leading online map provider, Apple Maps, was still using “Gulf of Mexico.”

The AP said last month, three days after Trump’s inauguration, that it would continue to refer to the Gulf of Mexico while noting Trump’s decision to rename it as well. As a global news agency that disseminates news around the world, the AP says it must ensure that place names and geography are easily recognizable to all audiences.

Trump also decreed that the mountain in Alaska known as Mount McKinley and then by its Indigenous name, Denali, be shifted back to commemorating the 25th president. President Barack Obama had ordered it renamed Denali in 2015. AP said last month it will use the official name change to Mount McKinley because the area lies solely in the United States and Trump has the authority to change federal geographical names within the country.